Detector for wireless-telephone outfits



F, Gran-ma DETECTOR FOR WIRELESS TELEPHONE OUTFITS Filed Mar.

/ INSULATlON INSULRTIQN I msuLaTl 0N Patented ll/llar. 2(1 192 UNHTED stares Parent @DFFHQEO WILLIAM F. GEHRIG, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ESSEX SPECIALTY (30., INQ, OF BERKLEY HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

DETECTOR FOR WIRELESS-TELEPHONE OUTFITS.

Application filed March 9, 1922.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM F. GEHRIG, a citizen of the United States, residin at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Detectors for.

\Vireless-Telephone Outfits; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the aocom panying drawings, and to characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates, generally,-to improvements in detectors for use in connection with wireless telephone apparatus; and the invention has reference, more particu- 2o larly, to a novel construction of the so called cat-whisker or galena detector for wireless telephone receiving sets.

The invention has for its principal object to provide in a cat-whisker detector an improved construction of galena cup holder together with a novel adjustable self-locking cat-whisker support oricarrier, which may be quickly and easily manipulated to search out with the cat-whisker terminal the most sensitive or efiective spot of the galena detector body, and which, when said spot is found, operates to automatically fix or lock the support or carrier to hold said cat-whisker terminal in registration and contact therewith, thus avoiding all necessity for employing additional or separate locking means, the manipulation of which would tend to disturb and frequently to dislodge the cat-whisker terminal from the contact position relative to the detector body which has been found most desirable and effective.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be clearly understood from the following detailed description of the same.

With the various objects of this invention in view, the same consists, primarily, in the novel construction ofcat-whisker detector hereinafter set forth; and, furthermore, the invention consists in the novel arrangements and combinations of the various devices and parts, as well as in the details of the construction thereof, all of Serial No. 542,857.

which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

The invention is clearly illlustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the novel construction of cat-whisker detector, made according to and embodying the principles of this invention; Figure 2 is a part side elevation and part vertical longitudinal central section of the same; Figure 3 isla bottom view; Figure 4: is a transverse section of the same, taken on line 44 in said Figure 1, the base being shown in .elevation; Figure 5 is a detail edge elevation of a bearing clip employed in connection with the cat-whisker terminal support or carrier; and Figure 6 shows a modified form of carrier rod support.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to said drawings, the reference character 6 indicates a base, made of a suitable insulating material, upon which the operative parts of the detector are mounted.

The reference character 7 indicates a metallic cup or block in which is imbedded and fixed a detector body 8, frequently consisting of sulphuret of lead, commonly called galena. Said cup or block 7 is se cured in mechanical attachment to the base 6, and in electrical circuit with other elements of a wireless telephone receiving set, by means of a horizontal metallic cupholder or clip body 9, which is provided at one end with up-turned or vertical flanges 10 springing from the sides of said cupholder or clip body 9, so as to be laterally opposed to each other, said flanges 10 terminating at their outer ends in a pair of laterally opposed spring-like gripping or clip arms .11, into the'embrace of which said cup or block 7 is sprung, so as to be frictionally gripped and supported thereby. The opposite end of said cup-holder or clip body 9 terminates in a perforate ear or tail-piece 12, which lies in the plane of said cup-holder or clip body 9. Said cup holder or clip body 9 is supported upon the upper surface of said base 6, preferably in an oblique position so that the cup or block 7 with its detector body 8 is substantially in central disposition intermediate the sides 'of said base, and so that the perforate ear or tail piece 12 is disposed at one end' of said base adjacent to one side or corner thereof. Engaged and alined with the perforate ear or tail piece 12, thus disposed, is a binding post 13, which is secured to said base 6 by a fastening screw 14;, which extends upwardly through and from the bottom. of said base, and thence through said perforate ear or tail-piece 12 to screw into the lower end of said binding post 13, thereby both securing said cup holder or cli body in electrical engagement with said binding post 13, as well as mechanically securing said parts in the desired fixed positions upon said base 6.

Arranged upon said'base 6, for cooperation with said detector body, is a novel adjustable self-locking cat-whisker terminal support or carrier, the same comprising a metallic bearing clip or bracket provided with a bottom portion 15 which rests upon said base 6, preferably in a central position intermediate the sides of the latter, and longitudinally alined with and spaced from said detector body supporting means. Integrally connected with the respective sides of said bottom portion 15 are upwardly extendin standard members 16, which are lateral. y spaced apart and opposed to one another. Said bearing clip or,bracket is preferably made of sheet metal, of such qualities thatsai'd standard members 16 are possessed of a requisite degree of springi-- ness or resiliency. Normally said standard members 16 are inclined toward or converge somewhat toward each other, as shown in Figure 5, so that when moved apart, they will be placed under a tension tending to move the same toward each other, and thereby will grip any element supported between the same under such conditions. Said standard members 16 are provided, adjacent'to their upper free ends with circular bearing openings or seats 17 which are transversely alined one with the other. Interposed between said standard members, so as to be engaged thereby and seated movably relative to said bearing openings 17, is a split spherical carrier consisting of two, preferably separate, substantially hemispherical members 18 and 19 having their rounded outer faces respectively seated or journaled in the respective bearing openings or seats 17 of said standard members. Said hemispherical members may be joined together by a narrow integral neck :0, if desired, as shown in Fig. 6. Said hemispherical members 18 and 19 are preferably hollow (although it is not absolutely essential that they should be), and their opposed sides or margins are each provided with indentations or notches 20 diametrically alined so as to form seats or guideways for engaging an naaaiee adjustable metallic carrier rod 21 which is interposed between said hemispherical members 18 and 19 so as to he supported thereby in diametrical extension therchctwecn in such a manner as to be capable of a longitudinal movement and also an axial rotary movement relative thereto. Said carrier rod 21 is provided at its inner end with a resilient cat-Whisker contact terminal 22 of suitable form, and secured upon the outer end of said carrier rod 21 is a handle portion 23, made of a suitable insulation material, and serving as a means for grasping the carrier rod when manipulating the same to adjust the contact terminal 22 relative to the detector body 8. The bottom portion 15 of said bearing clip or bracket is secured by a fastening screw 24 to said base 6, and is additionally secured, and at the same electrically connected with a conductor 25 imbedded in the bottom of said base 6, by means of the bolt 26 and nut 27, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The said conductor 25 extends to the fastening screw 28 which secures a binding post 29 to the base 6. The detector is electrically connected in circuit with the other elements of a wireless telephone receiving set, by connecting the proper circuit wires to the respective binding posts 13 and 29, so that the circuit is established when the cat-whisker contact terminal is brought into engagement with the detector body.

It will be noted from an inspection of the drawings that said carrier rod 21, by reason of the operation of the novel means for supporting the same, is capable of a universal adjustment, whereby the cat-whisker contact terminal carried thereby may be readily moved to search out and engage any spot on the exposed surface of the detector body 8. The adjustable movements rendered possible to the carrier rod by said novel supporting means are four-fold, viz, oscillatory movement in a horizontal plane (as indicated in Figure 1); oscillatory movement in a vertical plane (as indicated in Figure 2) longitudinal reciprocable movement (as also indicated in Figure 2); and rotary movements about its longitudinal axis. Owing to the fact that said resilient or spring-like standards 16 are placed under a tension when the parts are assembled, it. follows that the hemispherical members 18 and 19 will be pressed toward each other, thereby frictionally engaging and gripping the carrier-rod supported intermediate the same, so that oscillatory movements, in either horizontal or vertical planes, which areimparted to said carrier rod will be transmitted to said hemispherical members 18 and 19, which will consequently pivot or fulcrum such movements by reason of the rotation of the members 18 and 19 in the bearing openings 17 of the standards 16,

without danger of disengaging the. carrierrod from its operative assembled relation between said hemispherical members. To move the carrier rod longitudinally, or to rotate the same on its longitudinal axis, sufficient force, properly directed, is applied to the same to overcome the frictional grip of said hemispherical members, so that the carrier-rod will slide on the seats 20 While the supporting means for mounting the carrier rod will thus readily admit of a desired range of four-fold movement as described, said means, by reason of its character and construction, provides a very important additional function, viz, that the carrier-rod 21 will be frictionally gripped and held stationary in any position to which it has been adjusted, and consequently when once disposed to place the cat-whisker contact terminal in desired contact relation with the detector body 8 it will be automatically locked or held in such position, without necessity for employing separately manipulated locking means, such as set screws or the like, the operation of which might tend to disturb the delicate adjustment of the catwhisker terminal. 'Ihis advantageous functioning is due to the fact that the springlike standard members 16 bear frictionally against the hemispherical members 18 and 19, and in turn force the latter into frictional binding engagement with the carrier-rod, and consequently such frictional resistances thus established, tend first to bind or hold the hemispherical members 18 and 19 against free rotation relative to the bearing openings 17 of the standards 16, and, second, tend to bind or hold the carrier rod against free longitudinal or rotative movement relative to the hemispherical members; such move-- ments being possible only when a proper manipulative force sufiicient to overcome such resistances are applied.

I am aware that some changes may be made in the various arrangements and combinations of the devices and parts, as well as in the details of the construction of the same without departing from the scope of this invention as set forth in the foregoing specification, and as defined in the appended claims. Hence, I do not limit my invention to the exact arrangements and combinations of the various devices and parts as described in said specification, nor do I confine myself to the exact details of the construction of said parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

I claim 1. In a device of the kind described, a fixed detector body, a pair of electrically conductive opposed resilient standards having bearing openings, a. split spherical body of electrically conductive material disposed intermediate said standards with its opposite con ex surfaces otai a y joura le in and bearing openings, ametallic carrier rod extending diametrically throughvnsaid split spherical body so as to be frictionally engaged thereby but movable relative thereto. and a cat-whisker contact terminal carried on one end of said carrier rod for cooperation with said detector body.

2. In a device of the kind described, a fixed. detector body, a pair of opposed standards havingi bearing openings, a pair of hemispherical members intermediate said standards having their convex faces seated respectively in said bearing openings, said standards being under a spring tension tending to press said hemispherical members together, said hemispherical members having alined diametrically disposed seats at their opposed faces, a carrier rod extending between said hemispherical members and frictionally engaged by the seats thereof, and a cat-whisker terminal carried on one end of said carrier rod for cooperation with said detector body.

3. In a device of the kind described, a cat-whisker contact terminal mounting, comprising a pair of opposed resilient standards having bearing openings, a split spherical body intermediate said standards with its opposite convex surfaces rotatably jour naled in said bearing openings, a carrier rod extending diametrically through said split spherical body so as to be frictionally engagedthereby, and a cat-whisker contact terminal fixed to one end of said carrier rod.

4. In a device of the kind described, a cat-whisker contact terminal mounting, comprising a pair of opposed standards having bearing openings, a pair of hemispherical members intermediate said standards having their convex faces seated respectively in said bearing openings, said standards being under a spring tension tending to press hemispherical members together, said hemispherical members having ali ned diametrically opposed seats at their opposed faces, a carrier rod extending between said hemispherical members and frictionally engaged by the seats thereof, and a cat-whisker contact terminal on said carrier rod.

5; In a device of the kind described, a base of insulating material, a cup, a detector body mounted in said cup, a cup holder fixed on said base having opposed gripping flanges to embrace and hold said cup, a binding postconnected with said cup-holder, a pair of opposed standards having bearing openings fixed on said base, a second binding post on said base, an electric conductor interconnecting said second binding post with said standards, a pair of hemispherical members intermediate said standards having their convex faces seated respectively in said bearing openings, said standards being under a spring tension tending to press said hemispherical members to- H ll gethei'. said hemispherical members having); in testimony, that ii cieim the invention alined diametrically opposed seats at their set forth above i'have hereunto set my hand 10 opposed faces. a earner rod extending bethis 25th day of February, 1922.

tween said hemispherical members and friew tlonally engaged by the seats thei'eot. and a H I G eat-whisker contact terminal mounted on one VVItlIBSSGSL end of said earner rod for cooperation with MILTON M. ADLER,

Sihld detector body. (moizen D, RICHARDS. 

